Notifying Passengers of Port Time Changes

[no fuss travel]

The exotic food night market still exists. We watched others eat the scorpions (famine food), but chose not to eat it ourselves. We had been out for a Chinese dinner before walking along the streets. Seeing all the buildings lit up at night is beautiful and worth seeing as well. Forbidden City was well lit up.

[corpkid]

The shortened port time monster returns again. On our March 4 20 day Beijing to Hong Kong, the port times for Shanghai "magically" changed from 8am (overnight) to 5pm into a much less desired 12 noon (overnight) to 1pm, essentially screwing up all the tours I had booked. Glad someone noticed this because these were not cheap tours and I would have blindly missed the deposit cancel dates... Needless to say, I was not pleased.

 

The only reason we found out about this is someone on our roll call noticed the change on the cruise itinerary online. I reached out to my TA (as did many others) and NOBODY notified these TAs of this. Even one of the R/C members is a prestige TA with Oceania and not even she was notified. My TA said she was surprised by this, but did confirm the change was valid. I wonder how many people who aren't on CC will be none the wiser until they get on board. This is a clear communication fail.

 

OK, so now that a port that I was probably most excited about is all whacked, I simply asked "why" (as did others) and we can't get an answer. I get things happen - but TELL ME WHY! Of course all this happened after final payment. I just think when dropping $18k on a cruise, at the minimum we are owed an explanation.

 

My TA has asked me to write her a letter in order to try and get an explanation, but to be honest I don't expect a straight answer anymore, especially if it involves padding profits as suggested in previous posts.

 

We love Oceania, but I'm starting to see a trend here, and that trend may involve us not cruising with them in the future.

[hypercafe]

I might take Oceania to the Caribbean where I really do not care about the ports however if I really wanted to see a place I could not trust them. It's a lot of money to invest to see things change after you are locked in.

[urlaub]

This year we cruised on Marina in the Baltic for 2 weeks. All in all 7 hours port time less,

in October we were on Marina on 2 Ten-days-cruises in the Med. Each cruise 7 hours less in ports. In one port ( Igoumenitsa) they shortened the time in port that the only place to see ( Meteora) couldn't be reached.

It seems the new policy of Oceania since they belong to NCL.

:mad:

[hypercafe]

They do worse on NCL. They change things that were included to a surcharge after final payment.

 

Sent from my SM-T320 using Forums mobile app

[harryw]

The shortened port time monster returns again. On our March 4 20 day Beijing to Hong Kong, the port times for Shanghai "magically" changed from 8am (overnight) to 5pm into a much less desired 12 noon (overnight) to 1pm, essentially screwing up all the tours I had booked. Glad someone noticed this because these were not cheap tours and I would have blindly missed the deposit cancel dates... Needless to say, I was not pleased.

 

The only reason we found out about this is someone on our roll call noticed the change on the cruise itinerary online. I reached out to my TA (as did many others) and NOBODY notified these TAs of this. Even one of the R/C members is a prestige TA with Oceania and not even she was notified. My TA said she was surprised by this, but did confirm the change was valid. I wonder how many people who aren't on CC will be none the wiser until they get on board. This is a clear communication fail.

 

OK, so now that a port that I was probably most excited about is all whacked, I simply asked "why" (as did others) and we can't get an answer. I get things happen - but TELL ME WHY! Of course all this happened after final payment. I just think when dropping $18k on a cruise, at the minimum we are owed an explanation.

 

My TA has asked me to write her a letter in order to try and get an explanation, but to be honest I don't expect a straight answer anymore, especially if it involves padding profits as suggested in previous posts.

 

We love Oceania, but I'm starting to see a trend here, and that trend may involve us not cruising with them in the future.

 

O - Are you listening?

Just have your tech programmers create auto emails to passengers and TA's when there are port time changes. It will create good will towards O and a new standard in cruise industry public relations. A "win win" for all.

 

Harry

[TERRIER1]

O - Are you listening?

Just have your tech programmers create auto emails to passengers and TA's when there are port time changes. It will create good will towards O and a new standard in cruise industry public relations. A "win win" for all.

 

Harry

 

It has more to do with just notifying cruisers of the changes. Oceania should openly and honestly give an explanation that can be verified of why they changed the port times.

[Paulchili]

The shortened port time monster returns again. On our March 4 20 day Beijing to Hong Kong, the port times for Shanghai "magically" changed from 8am (overnight) to 5pm into a much less desired 12 noon (overnight) to 1pm, essentially screwing up all the tours I had booked. Glad someone noticed this because these were not cheap tours and I would have blindly missed the deposit cancel dates... Needless to say, I was not pleased.

 

The only reason we found out about this is someone on our roll call noticed the change on the cruise itinerary online. I reached out to my TA (as did many others) and NOBODY notified these TAs of this. Even one of the R/C members is a prestige TA with Oceania and not even she was notified. My TA said she was surprised by this, but did confirm the change was valid. I wonder how many people who aren't on CC will be none the wiser until they get on board. This is a clear communication fail.

 

OK, so now that a port that I was probably most excited about is all whacked, I simply asked "why" (as did others) and we can't get an answer. I get things happen - but TELL ME WHY! Of course all this happened after final payment. I just think when dropping $18k on a cruise, at the minimum we are owed an explanation.

 

My TA has asked me to write her a letter in order to try and get an explanation, but to be honest I don't expect a straight answer anymore, especially if it involves padding profits as suggested in previous posts.

 

We love Oceania, but I'm starting to see a trend here, and that trend may involve us not cruising with them in the future.

 

This is really bad news. I was kind of "assured" that this would not happen after 2015 but obviously it is happening. Not only is it happening, but people (passengers & TAs) are not notified - bad, bad, bad. I may finally have to admit that this is "an NCL" effect and not good for the future.

As I had said in the prior post on this subject - I can understand Oceania wanting to save money on fuel but make these changes when you plan the cruises to start with and not after people made final payments!

[I_r_a]

I find it interesting that people who are on a ship have such tight schedules.

 

Ira

[corpkid]

I find it interesting that people who are on a ship have such tight schedules.

 

Ira

 

Ummm... I could see if they were cutting off an hour or two, but they cut off 5 hours from the first day and 4 from the second, which essentially makes the second day pointless.

 

Case & Point: I had a market and dumpling tour/class setup at 9am the first day - can't do that now. Also, had a motorcycle sidecar tour setup the second day from 10am - 3pm... Also need to cancel that. This has nothing to do with "a tight schedule" now does it?

[buggins0402]

This is a significant change. I have been circling Vietnam for 2017, but toying between land or cruise, leaning toward land, This confirms it, it will be land.

[RJB]

I just do not understand. Does not sound good for Oceania. Just posted on another thread that we are sticking with O in spite of some very bad reviews on their TA and the next cruise on Riviera but wow, should we re think this. All this is adding up to a very black mark for O. We will stick it out for the next cruise, but this summer ????? :confused::confused::confused::confused:

[TravelerThom]

I just do not understand. Does not sound good for Oceania. Just posted on another thread that we are sticking with O in spite of some very bad reviews on their TA and the next cruise on Riviera but wow, should we re think this. All this is adding up to a very black mark for O. We will stick it out for the next cruise, but this summer ????? :confused::confused::confused::confused:

I'm not sure what you don't understand. For months Oceania has been changing many port time schedules AFTER FINAL PAYMENT solely for their convenience and profit. I recognize that a company must make a profit to stay in business, and O should so price their product from the beginning. Just because they write the contract to allow them to make any changes they wish, I don't think that it a good long-term business practice to offer one product and deliver another product, which O has been doing consistently recently. What I don't understand is if you now know this, are you still sticking with O??

 

Thom

[TERRIER1]

I find it interesting that people who are on a ship have such tight schedules.

 

Ira

 

A tight schedule isn't the issue. People sign on and pay for a cruise given the itinerary. This may their only opportunity to explore a specific port. Many Oceania cruisers do private excursions and the arrangements are based on the port times provided by Oceania. It has become a recent "phenomena" that Oceania is significantly changing port times after publication of the brochure/internet schedules and specifically after final payment. Many cruisers will have to alter their plans and this is not what they signed up for. Oceania is not providing forthright information as why they are changing the times especially since since this is not due to weather or tides.

 

I have no idea if this change is due to the recent merger with NCL but there is a definite change in Oceania since we began sailing them in 2008. If you look at the Member Reviews in CC you will see that once upon a time the percentages of "likes" were in the 90 and 80 percentile. That is no longer the case. We are booked for our 9th cruise in April so obviously we have liked the product in the past but there may not be be value for money any longer.

Edited December 31, 2015 by TERRIER1

[RJB]

A tight schedule isn't the issue. People sign on and pay for a cruise given the itinerary. This may their only opportunity to explore a specific port. Many Oceania cruisers do private excursions and the arrangements are based on the port times provided by Oceania. It has become a recent "phenomena" that Oceania is significantly changing port times after publication of the brochure/internet schedules and specifically after final payment. Many cruisers will have to alter their plans and this is not what they signed up for. Oceania is not providing forthright information as why they are changing the times especially since since this is not due to weather or tides.

 

I have no idea if this change is due to the recent merger with NCL but there is a definite change in Oceania since we began sailing them in 2008. If you look at the Member Reviews in CC you will see that once upon a time the percentages of "likes" were in the 90 and 80 percentile. That is no longer the case. We are booked for our 9th cruise in April so obviously we have liked the product in the past but there may not be be value for money any longer.

I do agree with you 100%. Have a problem in that we paid for Feb. and will go, but this summer ???? Can still cancel. May do that.

[Paulchili]

This is a significant change. I have been circling Vietnam for 2017, but toying between land or cruise, leaning toward land, This confirms it, it will be land.

 

Probably a good idea - you would see a lot more of Vietnam on a land tour.

Also, you may consider adding Cambodia and Laos as long as you are touring the area.

We had a great guide in Vietnam if you need a recommendation.

Edited December 31, 2015 by Paulchili

[Paulchili]

I have said that I do not like or agree with this new tendency of Oceania (see my post #58 above).

That said, it's not always a catastrophe.

For example, on our recent Marina cruise of 25 days, we lost quite a few hours in total. However, in those ports where we did lose time it was only an hour or two.

At first I was unhappy about this but in reality it actually mattered very little and in many cases it was even for the better.

For example, in Abidjan we arrived at 10 AM instead of 8 AM but stayed till 7 PM - much more than enough time for that place. It was much more convenient to arrive at 10 than 8 as we could sleep in longer and have a more leisurely breakfast without missing anything in port.

Several other ports had a very similar situation.

I know that this is not the case for every shortened port but at the same time, the sky is not necessarily falling either.

Still, I wish O were more upfront about these changes.

Edited December 31, 2015 by Paulchili

[sunnies]

Ummm... I could see if they were cutting off an hour or two, but they cut off 5 hours from the first day and 4 from the second, which essentially makes the second day pointless.

 

Case & Point: I had a market and dumpling tour/class setup at 9am the first day - can't do that now. Also, had a motorcycle sidecar tour setup the second day from 10am - 3pm... Also need to cancel that. This has nothing to do with "a tight schedule" now does it?

 

We are on the same cruise. We booked this itinerary for the Japanese ports and the two days in Shanghai. With two short half days you are very restricted in what tours you can do. As we now have 8 more hours at sea, does this mean the ship will just cruise at a slower speed or perhaps it will just go round in a circle like planes waiting to land?!

[TravelerThom]

We are on the same cruise. We booked this itinerary for the Japanese ports and the two days in Shanghai. With two short half days you are very restricted in what tours you can do. As we now have 8 more hours at sea, does this mean the ship will just cruise at a slower speed or perhaps it will just go round in a circle like planes waiting to land?!

This is all about being able to go at slower speeds to use less fuel. While I am generally in favor of using less resources, I do have a problem with being sold one product and then being delivered another so that the company can make a higher profit. I would not find it acceptable if I bought and paid for a McDonald's meal of Big Mac, fries and drink only to be told on delivery "sorry, it doesn't include fries anymore, and no you can't refuse the meal and get your money back." (Not sure why I used this example, I probably eat at McD's less than once a year.) On my Marina cruise ending in Rio de Janerio this month, after Final Payment, arrival in Rio was changed from 9am to 1pm. This 4 hours of extra cruise time from St. Helena allowed the cruise speed to drop about 3/4 knot, no doubt resulting in fuel savings. We had a flight scheduled out the next morning, so our time for daylight touring in Rio was cut essentially in half (rather than being 10am - 6pm, it was now 2pm - 6pm. I have had many port changes over the years, including missing ports entirely because of weather, riots, medical diversions, etc and while not entirely happy I understand and accept those. I do not find changes to the cruise after Final Payment that are solely to increase company profits at my expense acceptable. For that reason, despite Oceania great on-board product, I will not be sailing with them in the future.

 

Thom

Edited December 31, 2015 by TravelerThom

[PaulMCO]

Probably a good idea - you would see a lot more of Vietnam on a land tour.

Also, you may consider adding Cambodia and Laos as long as you are touring the area.

We had a great guide in Vietnam if you need a recommendation.

 

Or you could do a land combined Mekong river cruise and end in Siem Reap.

[buggins0402]

Probably a good idea - you would see a lot more of Vietnam on a land tour.

Also, you may consider adding Cambodia and Laos as long as you are touring the area.

We had a great guide in Vietnam if you need a recommendation.

 

Cambodia and Laos are in the plan. Any guide information you have would be appreciated. But, what I was kind of envisioning was something similar to what we did for China back in the mid-90's. A greet at the airport, and then some tours in each city, with some time to explore on our own, then drop at the airport for next city. I looked at packages, but I want to control the hotel selection a bit more and I don't want a cookie cutter structure to the itinerary. Five *'s are pretty dang cheap in Vietnam.

 

PaulMCO, I have looked at some river cruises, but the allocated days on the river would push the trip days to longer than I wanted. The plan is to combine the trip with some days in Hong Kong, which we have somehow missed in our journeys. Then we also wanted to hit Hue and Hoi An. We're also gym rats, so the little gyms on the river boats might not do the trick.

 

Sorry to go off topic...but, thread drift is part of the fun of CC.:D

 

Once, I actually get the flights, I'll start a separate thread to get ideas from the O group that has been there, done that. In fact, I might start hitting you two up earlier for the flight ideas (it will involve United FF's), because I know both of you are very experienced in that regard.

[wripro]

I agree completely with TravelerThom. It's unconscionable too make these port time changes after final payment and not even notify passengers or their TAs. Sadly, except for a TA where ports don't matter I will not be booking O again.

[RJB]

I agree completely with TravelerThom. It's unconscionable too make these port time changes after final payment and not even notify passengers or their TAs. Sadly, except for a TA where ports don't matter I will not be booking O again.

It is sad to see what has become of O in the last month or so. From a great approval rating to a disaster. Sure hope this changes as their best customers will look elsewhere. :(:(:(

[Pet Nit Noy]

It is sad to see what has become of O in the last month or so. From a great approval rating to a disaster. Sure hope this changes as their best customers will look elsewhere. :(:(:(

 

I don't know about "best customers" but it sure emphasizes the fact the CC participants are fewer than 5% of the total passenger load on each cruise -- seemingly, not a large enough group to impact Oceania's decisions.

 

We began cruising Oceania in its first year of operation, while my husband and I were both employed, and we only sailed to the Caribbean for the warmth and relaxation. Fast forward to the present. We're both retired, and we've been on a number of destination cruises, the Baltic as recently as last summer. However, after reading about the recent trend to shortened port times, we're thinking we'll focus on land trips or river cruises. Since we're snowbirds with little interest in winter Caribbean cruising, Oceania may simply drop off our travel planning; we're still interested enough and mobile/healthy enough for destination travel.

Edited January 1, 2016 by Pet Nit Noy

[RJB]

I don't know about "best customers" but it sure emphasizes the fact the CC participants are fewer than 5% of the total passenger load on each cruise -- seemingly, not a large enough group to impact Oceania's decisions.

 

We began cruising Oceania in its first year of operation, while my husband and I were both employed, and we only sailed to the Caribbean for the warmth and relaxation. Fast forward to the present. We're both retired, and we've been on a number of destination cruises, the Baltic as recently as last summer. However, after reading about the recent trend to shortened port times, we're thinking we'll focus on land trips or river cruises. Since we're snowbirds with little interest in winter Caribbean cruising, Oceania may simply drop off our travel planning; we're still interested enough and mobile/healthy enough for destination travel.

Seems to me that the other 95% might feel the same. and have no way to tell the rest of the world. Why would just CC people feel this way? The only way to really know is to look at the future bookings over the next few months.